ContemplativeJourney

 On October 20th, Ken Stockdale slipped away from earth and into the presence of Jesus, not long after his final words to his wife Kathy..."open the door."  I've spent almost 2 weeks trying to figure out what to say about Kenny. *A note about this nickname...because Kathy always called him Kenny and I had the amazing opportunity to live with their family for a short time during college, he has always been "Kenny" to me, though most folks knew him as Ken.   It speaks to the depth of my love for him that I've not been able to think of what to say...there is so much I'd like to say, and that deserves to be said, and yet nothing seems adequate for me to express what's in my heart.  I'm rarely a person with nothing to say...very rarely.  Typically, I have too much to say.  Too many opinions about anything and everything.  When I'm quiet and words are hard to come by, it is a rare and solemn moment.  I felt this almost 2 years ago when my dear

It could be the most powerful thing you will ever do for yourself.  What? Take responsibility for  every aspect of your current circumstance. Every last detail.  E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. " Are you kidding me?," you might be tempted to say.  No. I'm definitely not kidding you. If no one has yet shared this information with you, whether through something you read, or even in a face-to-face conversation, allow me to be the first.  I heard a sales trainer say the one thing he says to his audiences which causes the most uproar is this: "Whatever your current situation, income, housing, bank balance, debt...all of it.  It is your responsibility, and yours alone."  He said people mumble and murmur, and often get up and leave the room, and don't come back.  Interesting isn't it? The rage and indignation that some folks feel when confronted with the idea there is no one outside of themselves to blame for their circumstances. You can't blame the govern

“Awakening and owning the dreams that God has placed in our hearts isn't about getting stuff or attaining something. It's about embracing who we are and who he has created us to be. In him. He is our dream come true, and the one true love of our life. But we can't love him with our whole hearts when our hearts are asleep. To love Jesus means to risk coming awake, to risk wanting and desiring.” ― Stasi Eldredge , Becoming Myself: Embracing God's Dream of You        Four years ago, I founded a company with my long time best friend. At the time, it wasn't particularly a goal of mine to start my own company. I have always understood the benefits of business ownership, at least in the academic sense. Still, I don't score high on the "risk taker" scale, and I would have been perfectly happy to stay in the job I had for the remainder of my working life. As fate would have it, the company where I worked was sold, and my position eliminated. I

  Who looks back at you from the mirror?   What are you becoming as the days and weeks roll by?   I've been listening to some CDs of late, and there is a theme in the discussion about our need to focus attention on what we're becoming, rather than what we're getting out of life.  It is a massive paradigm change for most of us.   Think of it: what am I getting out of this relationship? Friendship? Job? Church?  The list could go on and on, and I think we've become so accustomed to the thought pattern, we can't even hear what we're missing. Change the paradigm with me for a moment, and imagine a new you; and ask this:   What am I becoming in this relationship?  What am I becoming as a result of this friendship? What am I becoming through the experiences, lessons learned, failures and successes that I've encountered in this job? What am I becoming when I come to church and worship?   One of the most valuable and liberating fruits of t

The 4th Chair     As a church family, Elevate Church in Murphy, Texas   is reading through the Gospel of John during the month of August.  In our 8th year as a church plant in Murphy/Wylie, Texas, this is an exciting time in our community.  We are seeing God work in our midst, and people coming to know Jesus for the very first time.  For me, the past year has been one of the richest and sweetest times in my Christian life, and I can never say enough, how grateful I am the Lord brought me on a long and winding road to just this specific family of believers.     If you don't already have a plan for your daily Bible reading, or like me, sometimes you struggle to come up with something that looks anything like a plan...I invite you to join us in August and read the Gospel of John.  It is 21 chapters, so you can begin today, and finish by month end.  Simply start with chapter 1 and read a chapter each day.  We invite everyone to post the verse each day that speaks to them

GOP Debate: August 6, 2015 What a fascinating cast of characters we find ourselves with as GOP candidates for President in 2016.  I say that we no disrespect or sarcasm, because it is indeed a fascinating group of people. I have always found politics interesting, and when I say 'always,' I mean my first memory of watching a political convention was 1968, and I was 7 years old at the time.   With that revelation, I must confess my continued fascination with all things political. I am a student of behavior, motivation, philosophy, personal and professional success, and theology.  In politics, it is as if they all come together in a wild Tasmanian perfect storm.   So far today, the one person who has made the most favorable impression on me? Carly Fiorina.  Interesting, since she was in the early debate and barely registers on the poll numbers.  Her command of the facts across all topics discussed, and her capacity to succinctly respond on point was truly impressi

Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. Proverbs 24:11 The Planned Parenthood video.  Let's talk about it. I understand fully, before I write these words, that some will be outraged by what I say, others will feel hurt or shame, and others will agree with my perspective. I'd like to back up and tell you about a reading habit that I first picked up, as an adolescent. Candidly, I can't recall whether a Sunday School teacher or a Youth Minister suggested it, but someone back there in my young days suggested reading through the biblical book of Proverbs each month.  With 31 chapters, it is easy to use as a daily reading plan, and because of its practical wisdom about living life, I have always loved it.  For most of the last 30-40 years, I have been reading 1 chapter each day in Proverbs, starting with chapter 1 on the first day of each month.  On the 24th day of each month, I have read chapter 24...hundreds of times I have

How do you "rest"?  Is it difficult for you to unwind and disconnect from the busy-ness of your daily life? What is the definition of rest? I looked it up in  Merriam-Webster's dictionary and found these 2 definitions that resonate for me: 1. freedom from activity or labor 2. peace of mind or spirit I believe it's important for each of us to regularly experience both definitions - to slow down and disconnect from the frantic pace that typically characterizes our lives.  Physical rest is crucial.  Even in the creation story told in the Bible's book of Genesis, we are told that God rested on the 7th day.  If God chooses rest for Himself, who are we to say we don't need a break? We all need a break.  In agriculture, farmers routinely rest their fields from planting on a rotating basis. Why?  Because even the ground needs a rest from its work to support the creation and growth of plants and food. Secondly, we all need a break from the mental pressures

    I am without question a strong-willed child.  Well, I'm not technically a child anymore, but by gosh, I am definitely strong-willed.  Starting in my late 20s, I began working quite intentionally on the character traits of empathy and compromise. There have been moments when I felt real progress had been made, I can much more easily roll along with the opinions of others, even when I want to go the opposite direction, or feel my understanding of the facts is clearly the correct understanding.   And then, there are days like I've had last week and this...when I thought I was being completely reasonable, generous even...and the person on the other end of the negotiation tells me I'm not listening, and never compromise.  What to do with this shocking encounter with another strong-willed person?  Am I correct in my assessment, or is he?   When it comes to the rough and tumble world of business ownership, the balancing act of protecting our company and its fin

  The week of June 21, 2015 was a very significant one in the life of the United State and its Supreme Court.  Two decisions were rendered that have and will continue to have an enormous impact on our country and its citizens.  As I have watched the news reports, listened to the pundits, and mostly observed the commentary going back and forth on social media, I have pondered whether or not I wanted to weigh in with an opinion.   My family and friends know that I always have an opinion, so I can't hide behind the excuse that I'm neutral.  I am not neutral in my perspective on either decision.  At the same time, I have had some very painful experiences over the past number of years that came out of disagreements in the political and theological sphere, and these experiences give me pause as I take the risk of revealing my positions...perhaps you can relate to this concern.  I don't think any of us set out to hurt other people's feelings when we state an opinion o

Recent articles in several papers indicate that a deal is done, or close to done...to bring Josh Hamilton back to the Texas Rangers. Just a few days ago, I was on a tour of the Louisville Slugger Factory in Louisville, Kentucky, listening to the tour guide talk about the unique qualities of Josh's bat. Internally, I had thoughts that were more filled with disgust than compassion.  What a waste, I thought to myself...and what a narcissistic individual he was.  Less than 2 hours later, I was sitting on a plane reading an article about Josh Hamilton and his wife's divorce filing; my arrogance turned to sincere sadness.  Yes, I thought again, what a waste.  But my thought was different now, realizing the brokenness that surely hangs over Josh, his wife, and their children.  I realized my own misplaced pride, and the fact that my brokenness is no more or less ugly than his.  We are all broken in different ways. Addiction is comprised of many factors - moral, spiritual, and phy

 How was Easter for you and your family?  Was it special and filled with worshipful wonder and the laughter of children searching for hidden eggs?  I hope it was that for you, and more. I began the day enjoying an amazing worship time with my church family in Murphy.  Our young church is just starting it's 8th year of ministry, and I found myself giddy with excitement over the number of families that crowded into our last service of the morning.  The singing was wonderful, but then again, I'm a singer, so for me the singing is always wonderful!  I am grateful every week for a pastor who unflinchingly proclaims the truth of scripture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I was especially grateful this morning for how God used him to share with us, verse by verse, the story of the two women coming to the tomb on Sunday morning. I have not heard the perspective he shared, and it made an impact on me that I'd like to share with you.  You see, these two women were coming

When we are young, we dream great dreams and have great visions.  We will be nurses, doctors, firemen and superheroes.  We will marry Prince Charming and have beautiful children who think we are the most wonderful parents in the history of the world.  As we grow older, we sometimes wake up to find our dreams have faded away...some of us lose sight of our dreams altogether.  Others of us never really learn to dream, or find the loss of some dreams too painful to risk trying to dream again. A thought occurred to me just now about the nature of dreaming...when we're in love, we usually dream great dreams about the object of our affection.  What we will do and where we will go...what we will say in a special moment, and just how we will look.  In a word, dreaming is akin to obsession. An obsession that steals us away...lost in imaginative thoughts of happy times and unlimited possibilities. Do you have any dreams left to dream?  Any magnificent obsessions to steal away your hea

In an amazing twist of literary construction, we began our sermon today on the topic of 'How to Have a God-Centered Family,' and ended with the subject of tithing. I just love my new church, and my Pastor. During February, Pastor and his wife have been sharing about healthy and godly relationships, and doing a fabulous job of it.  As we finish up the series, our focus was turned to our relationship with God, and how to put and keep Him first. We began with Matthew 6:33, a verse that never gets old. It is so simple, and yet the promise is so complete. Plucked from the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, arguably Jesus' most 'famous' sermon, in some ways this verse encapsulates the core of how we are to live our lives... But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you as well. It becomes more complicated when we begin to unpack what the verse means, because I think most followers of Jesus spend the majority of our l

" Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world."  Ephesians 6:11-12 The seeds of this particular blog were planted on the day I saw just a snippet of the video taken of the Jordanian pilot as he was burned alive inside a cage. There are no words in our language to do justice to the horror of that image.  Sometimes we become numb to these images of evil. Perhaps we must be numb in order to cope. On this day however, for me, I felt a physical wave of nausea come over me. Unspeakable evil, a heartless desire to see another human suffer.  The ability to 'produce' that person's suffering for personal gain...how can this happen? Today, a still photo of Coptic Christians from Egypt. 21 of them, standing in water just slightly

  Why worship? It's popular today for folks to say, "I can worship just as easily on the golf course as I can in the church...." or, "I can worship God better taking a walk in the woods than I ever did in church." Maybe so.  Perhaps you can.  Sometimes I believe these things may be true, at least for certain times and occasions.  In the months following my Mom's death, I found the idea of being in church more than I could bear.  I'm not suggesting that my feelings were right, or wrong.  But I would be lying if I said my feelings were anything other than what they really were.  One of my life's challenges has always been to manage the degree to which my feelings run my life and behavior.  I feel things very intensely, and often act on my feelings when those feelings aren't necessarily pointing me in the right direction.  Still, when it came to the subject of worship and church attendance during the months after Mom died, my feelings won th